PLENARY LECTURES

Jan Čermák

Charles University, Prague

The tides of time and language: translating Beowulf and Sir Gawain and the Green Knight into Czech

The talk will discuss some of the challenges the translator faces in rendering the texts of Beowulf and Sir Gawain and the Green Knight into Czech, a language that is similar to Old English, the translator´s code of departure, in terms of grammatical structure but dissimilar in poetic diction and whose literary history lacks a comparable depth of poetic narrative tradition. Focussing primarily on the strategies of reconciliation within the framework formed by the differences of literary context and (dis)similarities of language structure, my talk will also comprise selected translation issues related to (1) the linguistic evolution from Old to Middle English, and (2) the generic progression from epic to romance.   

Tamás Karáth

Comenius University, Bratislava and Pázmány Péter Catholic University, Budapest

Hearing Sounds from Beyond: Auditory Speculations in Late Medieval English Mysticism

Medieval theories of perception and cognition were more anchored in seeing and vision than in hearing and sound. However, the increasing scholarly interest in medieval soundscapes and auditory experiences has yielded much to fill a medieval chapter of the concept of the “mind’s ear”. This paper will argue that late medieval English mystical writings constituted a body of texts that explore the nature of auditory phenomena. Acoustically sensitive mystics such as Richard Rolle (d. 1349) and Julian of Norwich (c. 1343–after 1416) not only perceived sounds from beyond, but also sought to grasp the essence of heavenly voices. The late 14th-century anonymous author of The Cloud of Unknowing, a major representative of negative (apophatic) mysticism in the late Middle Ages, ambiguously treats sounds as both an impediment to mystical ascent and a trigger of contemplative states. His work evinces an acoustic quality that arises from the interplay of various dimensions of aurality. Finally, Richard Methley (d. 1527/1528), an avowed “disciple” of Richard Rolle, attempted to encapsulate sounds with textual and graphic strategies in his spiritual diaries. The mystics’ speculations of auditory phenomena will be discussed in the context of models of voices prevalent in the Middle Ages.

Thijs Porck

Leiden University

Engaging with Old English in Continental Europe: Methods, Motivations and Appropriations in the Long Nineteenth Century

In the 19th century, Old English poems were claimed as cultural heritage by various non-Anglophone nations, including Scandinavians, Germans and Dutch. These competing nationalistic, cultural appropriations happened against the backdrop of a growing interest in early medieval English language and literature across the European continent. This lecture will explore the multi-faceted European reception of Old English language and literature and thus offers a new perspective on the 19th-century foundations of Old English Studies.

The paper builds on ongoing research in the ERC-funded EMERGENCE project, which seeks to identify and analyze engagements with early medieval English across 19th-century Europe. The project, powered by a bibliographical and relational database, aims to reveal new, insightful materials, uncover intellectual networks and put forgotten protagonists in the limelight. With regard to the latter, this lecture also hopes to pay some attention to early Polish engagements with Old English.